It takes two days to completely clear the field of the carnivorous space-plants. Each member of Westcrest is armed with a water pistol and a tank full of the herbicide that Conor extracted from the Ailanthus tree. Conor recovers the grey box from amid the dead, tangled roots of the plants and it is unharmed except for a row of shallow tooth marks indented into the metal case.
Before they leave the farm, Chatravati snips up one narrow sliver of plant and places it into a glass tube, along with a few drops of water.
“You sure that’s a good idea?” asks Marcus, but Chatravati refuses to miss out on the opportunity to study alien fauna that landed virtually at his doorstep.
Then, at last, they are able to return to the mansion, all of them with weary arms and legs and eager to rest.
When they get home they see a suitcase sitting beyond the mansion’s double doors.
“Some welcome,” says Helena, stepping out of the kitchen. There is a red beret perched on her head.
Marcus is the first to greet her, embracing her tightly and whispering something in her ear that none of the others can hear. Chatravati is next, smiling and nodding with that ever-present twinkle in his eyes. “I am glad you are feeling better,” he says.
Sarra and Jeremy also greet her warmly, which leaves only Conor standing alone on the carpet, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot and burying his hands in his pockets.
“I’m okay, Conor,” Helena says to him and removes the hat from her head. Her hair is short and unstyled, but it glimmers in the mansion torchlight and is its natural shade of icy blonde.
“Then, I’m glad you’re back,” says Conor.
“So… what have you guys been up to?” she asks, raising an eyebrow at the dirt and mud smeared all over them.
“Just a spot of gardening,” says Marcus.
Later, Jeremy sits in a laboratory beneath the mansion, watching the alien plant clipping that Chatravati brought back with them. Only moments after it was placed in healthy soil the stalk developed a round head no larger than a marble, but still filled with tiny, razor sharp teeth.
“What are you doing down here?” says Sarra, who has found Jeremy at last after scouring the mansion for him. “Haven’t you had enough of plants for now?”
But Jeremy isn’t as enamoured with the plant as he appears. Rather, he is interested in the way it responds whenever he puts his hand near it.
“Watch this,” he says to Sarra as she steps in beside him. She watches as Jeremy places his fingers within easy reach of the carnivorous plant. Immediately the plant moves its head away from him.
“Aww,” says Sarra. “The little thing is almost cute,” then she wriggles her own gloved fingers in front of it just like Jeremy had done and before he has a chance to warn her.
The plant wastes no time in snapping at Sarra’s glove and pulling it free from her hand. It chews on the fabric for a moment before letting it fall to the laboratory table where Jeremy retrieves it for her.
“Lucky it wasn’t your skin,” Jeremy says as he hands the glove back to her. Then he turns and places his own, unclothed fingers in front of the swaying plant head. At once the plant moves away, seals its mouth shut and lowers its head to the soil.
“It doesn’t like me,” Jeremy says.